baptism

This coming Sunday, January 13, our Church celebrates the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Our Gospel reading comes from Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22. John explains that someone mightier than he will come after him, someone who will not only baptize with water but with “the Holy Spirit and fire.”

John set the stage and Jesus came. A voice from heaven said: “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” And all of us who have been baptized should also hear the same wonderful affirmation–we are now sons and daughters of a good and gracious God.

In our Church, and maybe in others, the baptismal rite includes emersion or pouring of water on the head of the newly baptized.

Immediately after the water rite, we take oil infused with balsam, which has been blessed by the bishop, and anoint the head of the one being baptized. A white robe and candle are then given to the person.

This Sacrament, for us, is the Sacrament of Initiation, which includes the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confirmation.

After the emersion and anointing with the Oil of Chrism, the priest or deacon prays over the newly baptized and reminds them and all listening that they are now a “priest, prophet and servant leader.” This is an awesome vocation that we have.

We are called to priestly, prophetic and servant leadership in the congregation and in the world. And no one understood this tremendous vocation more than Martin Luther King. He reminds us: “I happen to be a minister of the gospel…and in that capacity I have not merely a priestly function but also a prophetic function.”

We know from experience that it is much easier to stress worship and prayer, the priestly functions, of being a Christian than it is to be truly prophetic.

We can pray and worship in a beautiful sanctuary and sort of forget that we are prophets and servant leaders also. The world and it selfishness, racism, sexism, poverty, and violence are the places we need to be.

We are not only concerned with a person’s soul, but the whole person. It is our task, essential for a Christian, to be involved in making peace and social justice a reality here and now. That is messy, I know. It is much easier to åstay in church, right?

The Church is here to bring good news to those who are waiting to hear it. Our baptismal calling urges us to bring God’s healing presence wherever there is brokenness and pain, poverty and violence.

We Christians have an awesome vocation, if we are welling to live it. Come and worship with us any Sunday at 8 or 10:30 AM, at 4051 N. 25th Street.

How do you get saved? The very question makes it sound like we save ourselves, and that couldn’t be further from the truth! God alone is the Savior in Jesus Christ. But because God cannot and will not save us against our will, the scriptures call us to respond in free cooperation with the saving Lord. That’s why you hear texts saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:40). Or 1 Timothy 4:16, which says, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them. Because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Some people fear such speech because they see a legalist under every bed. They don’t want anyone to get the impression that they can save themselves. This is a legitimate concern but there’s no point in being so “careful” that we don’t call people to do what they’re called by God to do. “What must I do to be saved?” a jailer asked Paul (Acts 16:31). “What must we do [to be forgiven]?” thousands asked Peter (Acts 2:37). “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” a man asked Jesus (Luke 10:25). None of the three acted as though this was a terrible question. No one said to the inquirers, “Ah, now that’s your fundamental mistake because you can’t do anything to be saved.” All three told their hearers what to do to be saved.

Responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ in trusting repentance saves you when you get baptized into Jesus Christ. This is what Paul taught the jailer in Acts 16:31-32. This is what Peter taught thousands in Acts 2:37-38 and it’s what Christ told his apostles to teach all nations in Matthew 28:18-19 and Mark 16:15-16. It’s what Ananias told Saul in Acts 22:16 when he wanted the forgiveness of his sins. I’ve stressed in scores of places on this site, and at length, that faith in Jesus Christ is the heart of our response to God’s gospel. That isn’t to be denied. Without a trusting and penitent heart nothing else matters—it’s all in vain for without that trust and repentance which is part of a full-bodied faith there is no true acceptance of Christ. But I need to say plainly that in the New Testament when convicted and now believing people wanted to become Christ’s they were told to be baptized.

It doesn’t matter that some sweet and wise people that we know don’t hold to that. The scriptures are very plain about it. You aren’t required to obey these sweet wise people but you are required to obey the voice of God in scripture. Read the texts on baptism for yourself and if they’re as plain to you and as they are to me, don’t ask anyone’s permission or approval—get yourself baptized and know you are saved.

And it isn’t necessary for you to make judgements on the spiritual condition of everyone you meet. Leave that to God. [Please see Remarks on Baptism (3).] Simply tell them what you’ve read in scripture and what you have done about it and let them make up their minds before God what they’ll do about it. In Acts 22:16 Ananias told a now believing and repentant Saul, “And now, what are you waiting for? Get up, and have yourself baptized and wash your sins away, calling on the name of the Lord.” So, if you haven’t done that, “What are you waiting for? Get up, and have yourself baptized and wash your sins away calling on the name of the Lord.”